Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Pilots of the Crash

An observation from a single-engine licensed private pilot:

But there wasn't enough altitude: the choice was buildings or freezing cold water. Looking back during those crucial moments, history provided no comfort. Ahead and below them was death, not merely their own deaths but their passengers' deaths too, 155 souls, and possibly the deaths of others on the surface. But they followed the pilot's mantra: fly the airplane. Never stop flying the airplane, not until you are dead and can't fly it anymore; fly it into and through the crash, as long as you have any control.

....while we wait for AB's post on the event, which will be VERY informative, as he usually is....

HT: WWWTW

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I really don't have anything to add and never planned to post on it. It was a remarkable case of judgement (Sully and Skiles realized they couldn't get back to LGA nor could they make Teterborough...(weight considerations for Teterborough?)

But yeah, it's drilled into you from day one....fly the plane. It's rule #1. You have to do that before you can do anything else. Experience and Sim times pounds that rule into your head over and over and over.